Portable jail cell

ABSTRACT

A portable jail cell which can be transported as a unit and installed in a jail or designated building. A windowless structure which has a foraminous metal screen door for light and air, is of ribbed sheet metal panels except for the floor. The floor is of cast concrete provided with channels on which to set and weld a unit cell. Sheet metal bunks which are welded inside the cell create a solid one piece unit. At one corner is an angled wall portion connecting contiguous side walls, and on the inner side of which are the toilet and wash bowl and on the outer side are suitable plumbing fixtures. This enables two cells to be placed side by side with adjacent angled wall portions to provide convenient access chambers and dispose the plumbing for the two cells in conveniently accessible location. The sheet metal for the wall panels is not less than one-eighth inch in thickness to militate against manual cutting.

United States Patent 1 [11] 3,722,152 51 Mar. 27, 1973 Schlatter et a1.

[54] PORTABLE JAIL CELL [75] Inventors: Benjamin G. Schlatter; Sydney Spate, both of Toledo, Ohio [73] Assignee: Art Inon, lnc., Toledo, Ohio 22 Filed: Aug. 2, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 167,984

' [52] US. Cl. ..52/79, 52/35, 52/106 [51] Int. Cl. ..E04h 3/08 [58] Field ofSearch....52/79, 106, 630, 36, 220,- 143, 52/34, 35

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 922,993 5/1909 Youngblood ..52/106 1,172,095 2/1916 Worth et al. ..52/630 2,746,789 5/1956 Ridgway ..52/630 469,635 2/1892 I-Iale ..52/106 1,611,261 12/1926 Youngblood.... .....5 2/106 2,248,805 7/1941 Cocken ..-.52/106 2,742,114 4/1956. Belllen .52/630 X 9/1960 Wenzel ..52/79 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 822,835

Primary Examiner-John E. Murtagh Attorney-Malcolm W. Fraser 57 a ABSTRACT A portable jail cell which can be transported as a unit and installed in a jail or designated building. A windowless structure which has a. foraminous metal screen door for light and air, is of ribbed sheet metal panels except for the floor. The floor is of cast concrete provided with channels on which to set and weld a unit cell. Sheet metal bunks which are welded inside the cell create a solid one piece unit. At one -corner is an angled wall portion connecting con-- the plumbing for the two cells in conveniently accessi# ble location. The sheet metal for the wall panels is not less than one-eighth inch in thickness to militate against manual cutting.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing. Figures 11/1959 Great Britain ..52/630 PORTABLE JAIL CELL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many jails are old and inadequate, but to modernize them or replace them is so costly that nothing can be done in most instances. However, there is a great need for places where arrested individuals can be detained without excessive crowding and .under sanitary conditions. Not infrequently a sizeable number of persons is arrested at one time, and jail capacity is not adequate and this presents a difficult problem. Therefore, the

unit cell serves as a minimum security cell which can hold safely many more at much less cost than the customary maximum security cells.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A portable jail cell is provided which, by the use of suitable handling equipment, can be delivered and inand fixtures are so arranged that both water and waste pipes can be provided in oneaccess chamber for two adjacent cells, enabling servicing in a convenient manner without entering the cell structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top perspective view of the detention cell, a portion of the ceiling being broken away to show the interior, and, by broken lines, showing an adjacent cell; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a portable'prisoner detention cell which constitutes in effect a unitary structure provided with ribbed sheet metal side walls and an end wall 11 and a foraminous front wall 12 of metal screenaffording light and air to the interior. The floor 13 is of a reinforced concrete slab with anchorage channels and the ceiling 14 is likewise of ribbed sheet metal. The joints between the sheet metal parts are welded seams.

The ribbing for'the several walls is in the form of open V-shaped channels spaced about 2 feet from each other and arranged in parallel relation. Thethickness of the sheet metal is of the order of one-eighth inch and this has been found empirically to be such that it cannot be manually cut through.

The screened front wall 12 is provided with a hinged door 16-to afford ingress and egress with respect to the cell. In the floor 13 is a conveniently arranged drain 17 so that the inside of the cell can be cleaned by hosing and the drain can be conveniently connected to existing soil pipes. A suitable number of sheet metal bunks 18 are welded and braced, several arranged superposed.

At one end of the cell, preferably at the front, is a flat comer wall 19 formed by leaving one side wall 10 and the front wall 12 somewhat short and-angling these 'ends by the wall 19. On the mslde of the wall 19 are wall 22 suitably welded in place and even with the adjacent walls 12. In the wall 22 is an access door 23. This places the water and soil pipes where they can be serviced conveniently without entering the cell.

It will be understood that the cell is a self contained unit which can be fabricated in one location and then picked up and transported to the desired location. It is of a size for example that it can be lifted by suitable equipment and placed on a flat car or truck. The walls are of sheet metal, strengthened by ribbing and are thus sufficiently sturdy to withstand stresses occasioned by such handling. In use, the positioning of the plumbing fixtures is of importance because of accessibility for installing and servicing, and the chamber formed by adjacent cells also has accoustical value by preventing noises to be transmitted from one cell to another.

What we claim is:

1. A prisoner detention cell adapted to be transported as a modular unit to the place of use comprising a prefabricated self contained structure having a floor in the form of a cast slab, a ceiling and side walls,

each side wall and ceiling consisting of sheet metal panels having a series of integral, parallel reinforcing ribs generally V-shaped in cross section, and spaced substantially from each other,

adjacent side walls at one corner being truncated or terminating at an appreciable distance from each other,

a flat corner wall panel joining the edges of said truncated side walls, and providing a mounting panel for water and waste pipes common to plumbing facilities, whereby two detention cells can'be arranged side by side so that plumbing can be conveniently installed in each of the adjacent mounting panels and arranged in close juxtaposition for economy and ease of inspection and servicing,

the ceiling and side walls being closed except for one side wall, and V a door in said last side wall having a foraminous section affording air, light and access to the cell. 

1. A prisoner detention cell adapted to be transported as a modular unit to the place of use comprising a prefabricated self contained structure having a floor in the form of a cast slab, a ceiling and side walls, each side wall and ceiling consisting of sheet metal panels having a series of integral, parallel reinforcing ribs generally V-shaped in cross section, and spaced substantially from each other, adjacent side walls at one corner being truncated or terminating at an appreciable distance from each other, a flat corner wall panel joining the edges of said truncated side walls, and providing a mounting panel for water and waste pipes common to plumbing facilities, whereby two detention cells can be arranged side by side so that plumbing can be conveniently installed in each of the adjacent mounting panels and arranged in close juxtaposition for economy and ease of inspection and servicing, the ceiling and side walls being closed except for one side wall, and a door in said last side wall having a foraminous section affording air, light and access to the cell. 